title: Complementary roles of yeast Rad4p and Rad34p in nucleotide excision repair of active and inactive rRNA gene chromatin.
abstract: Nucleotide excision repair (NER) removes a plethora of DNA lesions. It is performed by a large multisubunit protein complex that finds and repairs damaged DNA in different chromatin contexts and nuclear domains. The nucleolus is the most transcriptionally active domain, and in yeast, transcription-coupled NER occurs in RNA polymerase I-transcribed genes (rDNA). Here we have analyzed the roles of two members of the xeroderma pigmentosum group C family of proteins, Rad4p and Rad34p, during NER in the active and inactive rDNA. We report that Rad4p is essential for repair in the intergenic spacer, the inactive rDNA coding region, and for strand-specific repair at the transcription initiation site, whereas Rad34p is not. Rad34p is necessary for transcription-coupled NER that starts about 40 nucleotides downstream of the transcription initiation site of the active rDNA, whereas Rad4p is not. Thus, although Rad4p and Rad34p share sequence homology, their roles in NER in the rDNA locus are almost entirely distinct and complementary. These results provide evidences that transcription-coupled NER and global genome NER participate in the removal of UV-induced DNA lesions from the transcribed strand of active rDNA. Furthermore, nonnucleosome rDNA is repaired faster than nucleosome rDNA, indicating that an open chromatin structure facilitates NER in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Département de Microbiologie et Infectiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Poste 7446, Université de Sherbrooke, 3001 12th Ave. Nord, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 5N4, Canada.
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.forename: Yumin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Teng
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Paquette
authors.forename: Raymond
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Waters
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Conconi
mesh_terms: D002843:Chromatin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004260:DNA Repair; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000528:radiation effects; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D006801:Humans; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D024363:Transcription Initiation Site
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009707:Nucleosomes; C503023:RAD34 protein, S cerevisiae; C493797:Rad4 protein, S cerevisiae; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases